We all need safe food and clean water.

This week, the TransCanada pipeline company officially filed a $15 billion corporate trade lawsuit against the United States for refusing to allow the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. After an intense grassroots campaign by environmentalists, farmers, landowners and local governments, President Obama blocked the pipeline that would have delivered high-carbon oil from Canadian tar sands because it undermined U.S. efforts to fight climate change.

But TransCanada is now using North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) investment rules to sue the federal government for rejecting the pipeline, demanding $15 billion dollars in repayment for anticipated profits it expected from the project.

TPP Expands Corporate Power

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has the same kind of investment rules that allow foreign companies to sue for damages if new laws or policies allegedly undermine their expected future earnings. These rules set up a special court for corporations to challenge measures that protect the environment and public health — effectively demanding payoffs when governments take action to safeguard the public.

Greenhouse gas polluters could use the TPP investment provisions to unravel federal, state and local efforts to fight climate change. For example, these TPP rules would empower foreign oil and gas companies with leases on public lands to sue for damages if Congress passed the Protect Our Public Lands Act, which would prohibit fracking on federal land.

This week’s Keystone XL lawsuit brought to you by NAFTA only highlights the dangers of these corporate trade investor suits and contributes to the growing skepticism and hostility towards the TPP. It’s no wonder there is widespread and surging dissatisfaction with so-called free trade deals that are little more than giveaways to the largest international corporations.

Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold & uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people’s health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.